Tis the Season to Go Shopping
by nannygirl
Summary: With nowhere else to go and nothing to do Jackie decides to partake in one of the great holiday traditions and brings Eric along with her. A short holiday friendship fic...romance too if you squint hard enough.
1. Not Just Shopping, Christmas Shopping

_**Disclaimer: **I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note:** Hello everyone! Well the holiday season is upon us once again and I'm sure all of you are busy doing all the things that are a part of this wonderful time of year. Decorating, baking, watching holiday specials, singing holiday songs, taking finals/midterms(yuck!), and shopping! Lots and lots of shopping! So while I was out doing some of my own holiday shopping this idea came to me and I thought it would be kinda fun to write. Plus I miss writing E/J planning on getting back to 'Two Weeks' soon though! I really do hope you all enjoy it, it'll be a shorter fic with maybe four chapters at the most and they won't be very long. Hopefully that's a good thing. Hope it'll help get you in the holiday spirit and I really do hope you all like it! Please, review if you can, and Enjoy!_

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><p>"You know this is all your fault, right?" Jackie Burkhart huffed to the young man sitting a good few feet away from her.<p>

He turned and looked at her, frowning slightly, "My fault?"

"Yeah." Jackie nodded, "If you hadn't kept trying to steal the Christmas cookies your mom was taking out of the oven she wouldn't have kicked us out."

"I wasn't stealing, I was _sampling_. Someone has to make sure they're good batch." Eric Forman tried to defend himself before deciding to bring up another point, "And if we're blaming anyone on why we got kicked out, it's you missy."

Jackie eyes widened, "Me?"

"That's right. If _you_ hadn't been whining on and on _and on_ about how boring it was there, we would still be there and not…_here_." Eric said while lifting up his right hand to gesture where they were currently sitting.

The Vista Cruiser.

It had been almost thirty minutes ago that they were both seated at the breakfast table in the warm, cozy, cookie filled Forman kitchen and now they were driving around in the old station wagon blaming the other for being forced out into the bitter cold, when they should have been keeping their eyes open for somewhere warm to stop and attempt to hang out in.

The truth was it was probably a mixture of both Eric's cookie sampling and Jackie's whining that had pushed Kitty to her brink; she had made one call out to her husband in the living room and the next thing Jackie and Eric knew they were buttoning up their coats and running out the glass sliding doors.

Though now as she thought back to the incident, Jackie realized she should have just let Eric run out of the house himself. Red wouldn't have acted upon his threat…at least not with her. She was his favorite.

But it was too late now and she was stuck riding around Point Place with Eric Forman of all people.

He wouldn't even let her choose what radio station to listen to—it wasn't like she was going to put on something so terrible either, she was just going to put it on the new twenty-four seven Christmas Carol station like anyone else would have done. Instead she was being forced to listen to Eric's new Styx cassette over and over again, she was really beginning to think the thing was stuck in the player and just kept playing not allowing anything else to ever be played again. Sure, Styx wasn't so bad, it could have been worse, but Jackie wasn't getting to the point where if she heard 'Come Sail Away' one more time she would scream.

"Well that just proves that it's still _your_ fault." Jackie replied to the comment Eric had made a few seconds ago.

Eric couldn't even begin to think of the kind of reasoning that was going on in the former cheerleader's head, so he decided to just come out and ask it.

"How?"

Jackie turned her head to face Eric, keeping her arms folded over her chest, and began to explain as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "It's your fault for having such a boring house!"

"Hey, my house has always been boring." Eric protested, hands gripping the steering wheel but having uncurled and lifted up one index finger.

"That's true. It's really the people in it that make it fun." She concluded with a nod while staring out the passenger window.

Hearing Jackie's words and the way they had been spoken in a softer more sincere tone than the one she had been using when she blamed him of being Cookie Monster, made the corners of Eric's mouth begin to tug upwards a bit.

Dark brown strands of hair flew in the air as Jackie swung her head away from the window and back to Eric, "Explain to me again why you're here and Donna's not."

The forming smile on Eric's lips quickly and complete diminished.

"Jackie, for the hundredth time _today_," he sighed and readied himself to repeat his explanation once again, "My last final was on Friday and Donna's is today. She had to stay over in Madison until she finished her test, she'll be in later tonight."

"Yeah, I know that. But that still doesn't tell me why _you're_ here." Jackie continued to pester, "Why didn't you stay in Madison too? Couldn't you have waited until Donna finished her test and then you guys could have come home together."

Eric shrugged and kept his eyes on the road, "I don't know. Donna said I should come down without her and she'd take the bus here. I guess she didn't see the point of me hanging out around the school if I didn't have anything to study for."

Jackie still didn't quite believe Eric and the suspicious way she was looking at him showed that. She understood Donna needing to stay there to take her test but her friend sending Eric back here so soon and not making him wait for her…something didn't quite add up. Stilling eyeing Eric, Jackie also began to search her brain for a possible—more believable—reason for Donna not wanting Eric there in Madison with her…suddenly it hit her!

"You were humming while she was studying, weren't you?" she inquired in a tone that sounded like she had been in his shoes before.

As a replacement for a simple 'yes' or 'no' Eric turned his head to Jackie, his eyes opened wide, "She really has a problem with that doesn't she?"

Nodding her head in agreement, Jackie uncrossed her arms and propped her right elbow up on the passenger door she was seated next to, and then dropped her chin into her palm, staring out the window. Houses decorated with colorful lights, plastic Santa's and reindeer, and snow, snow, and more snow, swooshed by at a slower pace than usual. She let out a small sigh, not even a tastefully decorated house—very rare in this little town—would make her smile right now.

As much as she missed her best friend, Donna wasn't the only person that Jackie missed. And there was one person in particular that she wished was with her in this car instead of Eric; if they were here she would definitely not be freezing the way she was now.

"I can't believe Steven went to work today." Jackie said, breaking the silence that had fallen onto the vehicle.

Eric furrowed his brow, "Jackie, it's Monday. Everybody works on Mondays. It's why people hate Mondays."

"But Steven owns his store. He doesn't _have_ to go to work." She started to explain herself, "He should have wanted to stay home with me so we could spend all day in our nice warm bed."

At hearing Jackie's statement, Eric wasn't sure if he should be distributed by the image put in his head or get in a shot on her. The second one did sound like more fun. He opened his mouth to make comment about her being the devil but had a sudden change of heart when he saw how distressing she looked. He knew she was missing Hyde just like he was missing Donna, but unlike Donna, Hyde was only a few miles away. And they could be at the record store in a matter of minutes, it would also mean he and Jackie wouldn't be stuck spending time together with just the two of them.

"Hey Jackie, why don't we stop by _Grooves_?" he suggested, getting ready to switch lanes.

Jackie quickly sat herself up straight and turned towards Eric, "No!" she answered abit too loudly, startling Eric some; she tired again, this time speaking calmer and not so loud, "I mean no. That's okay."

"Why?" Eric asked curious as to why Jackie had gone from sulking in the corner to almost making them crash into a passing blue Mustang; and then he figure it out, she was hiding something! Taking his eyes off the road for a second or two Eric looked at Jackie with a knowing smirk, "What did you do?"

"Nothing." She argued but he wasn't buying it.

"What did you do, Jackie?"

"Nothing." The brunette repeated though in not in a tone as firm as the last, "I just tried to help organize the store a little bit the last time I was there."

Eric knew the story wasn't over, "And…?"

"It's not my fault that ABBA goes before Led Zeppelin when you're putting things in alphabetical order!" Jackie proclaimed, in a manner similar to the way she had used when she tried to defend her actions to her boyfriend a few days ago,

"You put ABBA before Zeppelin?" he asked holding back a laugh, "Man, I surprised Hyde didn't dump you right then and there."

Rolling her eyes at Eric's statement, Jackie re-crossed her arms and went back to leaning against her door and looking back out the window. She was only half annoyed by the statement, the other half of her was annoyed by the fact that they were still just driving around and around! Jackie was fairly certain—and wouldn't be at all surprised if it was true—that they'd past The Piggly Wiggly six times already.

Shifting his eyes away from the road and taking a quick glance over to Jackie, Eric saw that she was once again looking sadden. And once again Eric felt the need to try and make her feel better. After all spending time with 'normal' Jackie was bad as was spending time with a mad Jackie but spending time with a sad Jackie was worse than the two put together. He quickly tried to think of something that would at least get her to crack the tiniest of smiles.

"You know now that I think about it, Jackie, maybe it's neither of our faults."

Jackie continued to stare out the window as she answer, "No it's your fault."

"Seriously, Jackie. Think about it. If we're gonna be anyone I think it should Hyde and Donna." Eric stated and when he caught the confused look on Jackie face he began to elaborate, "If they weren't working or actually here in Point Place then we wouldn't have even been in the kitchen. We would have all been the basement just like any other day not bugging Mom and Red…well maybe Red but at least we'd be out of his sight. It's their fault not ours."

After taking a few seconds to think about the theory, Jackie nodded her head up and down, "I think you're right Eric…gee I bet that's something you're not use to hearing."

"Ha ha." Eric responded with a fake laugh until he realized how true those words were, "Actually it's not. It sounds nice though."

With Eric smiling Jackie couldn't help but return the grin as she nodded once again knowing—and liking—that she had been right. Then abruptly a new thought entered her mind.

"But you know, we really shouldn't put all the blame on Steven and Donna." She began to say, "Part of it belongs to Michael and Fez too."

This time it was Eric's turn to nod, "That's true Jackie…wow that leaves a really bad taste in my mouth." He said and the continued with his teasing by frowning and opening and closing his mouth while sticking out his tongue occasionally, looking like he had in fact had a bad taste in mouth.

It was a Christmas Miracle—at least that was what he thought—when all Jackie did in response to his actions was giggle. Eric stopped making his faces and smiled at the sight of Jackie smiling.

"It's so different without them." Jackie shared, "Even watching those Christmas Specials we watch every year."

"Yeah. The Grinch just isn't the same without Fez and Kelso joining in with The Whoo's 'Welcome Christmas' song at the end."

Wearing a small smile Jackie nodded, until suddenly the cheerless smile disappeared completely and she scowled almost angrily, "I can't believe Michael is still in Chicago with _those _people."

Turning away from the road and furrowing his brow slightly, Eric looked at Jackie, "You mean his _daughter_ and _fiancé_?"

"Yeah." Jackie replied, in a harsher tone than she meant.

Sure she knew that Michael had every right to be with his little family. She was happy for him—a little shocked too, after all out of all of them who would have thought Michael Kelso would be the first to become a real family man? However what bother Jackie was that they were in Chicago. They should have wanted to be in Point Place so that they could be with their friends, their family, and most importantly her! It had been almost two months since all three of them had been in town and that just wasn't fair. Especially not to Little Betsy, being deprived of spending time with her beautiful and amazing Godmother.

"Well at least we'll see Kelso for Christmas and a few days after that. He said he and Brooke took the rest of the week off so they could spend some time here." Eric explained while keeping his attention on the road.

Jackie nodded for a second or two before she caught on to the first part of Eric's statement, "Wait, what do mean 'at least we'll see Kelso for Christmas?" she questioned with a frown, "We're gonna see Fez too."

"Yeah, I wouldn't bet any big money on that." came his reply.

"Of course we're going to see Fez for Christmas, Eric." The brunette argued, not even wanting to think about having a Christmas with even one of her friends missing; besides Eric was being ridiculous why wouldn't they see Fez for Christmas? "He's been living at your house ever since your whore of a sister came back to town."

As a sign of agreement, Eric nodded only once, his green eyes focused on outside of the windshield, "True. _But_. Since they decided to give their 'marriage' a second chance, how many times have you actually seen Fez? Really?"

At first Jackie was ready to jump right in and prove Eric wrong, but then as she got ready to make her comeback she realized she had nothing. It really had been a while since she saw her foreign friend. Knitting her eyebrows closer together, Jackie tried to recall the last time she had seen or even had a conversation with Fez. Her mind kept reminding her of Thanksgiving…but that couldn't be right…could it?

"Oh my God." She gasped, her frown gone and a mix expression of shock and worry replacing it, "Do you think Laurie killed him?"

Eric shook his head, "Nah. Mom says they come out of their room at least twice a day to eat."

Hearing that her friend was safe or at least alive made Jackie release a sigh of relief. That was all she needed to hear and not so much the information that Eric decided to add in and share with her.

"Still in the three days I've been here I've only seen him once." He started his story, "It was after midnight and I went into the kitchen for something to drink and Fez was there with his arm literally full of syrups for pancakes, chocolate syrup, whip cream and bunch of other ice cream toppings."

"So? It's Fez." Jackie replied slightly sounding confused; everyone knew the foreigner had a sweet tooth.

"Well that's what I thought at first too. But then I mad the mistake of asking if he wanted a bowl or something to put the stuff in and he said, 'No that's okay, I have your sister.'" Eric informed, the feeling of revulsion he felt during that moment filling him once again; taking one hand off the wheel to wave it in the air as he spoke in a slightly higher pitched voice, "He didn't even try to hide it!"

"Ew! Ew! _Ewww_!" Jackie cried with disgust over and over again as she tired to get the image out of her brain.

"I know!" he swiftly agreed, "That's why this Christmas I'm getting Mom and Dad a set of earplugs."

"Oh my God."

"What? It's not like that's all I'm getting them." Eric said, thinking Jackie's 'Oh my God' had been because of his statement, "I'm getting them other stuff. Like…like…other stuff."

Jackie rapidly shook her head as she turned to Eric, a large excited smile on her face, "No, not that. I know what we can do!"

"What?"

"We can go shopping!" She answered in such a happy tone you'd think she had said 'We can go to Disneyland!'

Instantly a frown indented itself onto Eric's forehead and he swung his head back and forth from road to Jackie and then back again, "What?"

"Shopping, And not just shopping, Christmas shopping." Jackie went on, getting more and more eager she was just about bouncing her seat, "And not just Christmas shopping, Christmas shopping with Jackie!"

When he saw the jazz hands Jackie used when she said her name the arch of Eric's frown dropped making an even deeper scowl. "Okay, Jackie. You see that lamppost right over there? With the garland wrapped around it?"

"Yeah." Jackie nodded after following Eric's pointing index finger to the streetlamp a good few miles away from them.

"Okay." Eric said and then cleared his throat, "I would rather crash this car, with both of us in it, into that pole than go Christmas shopping with you."

Jackie gave a quick roll of her eyes but didn't quit her pestering, "Oh come on Eric, it'll be fun."

"Yeah, I doubt that." He snorted back.

"We went shopping together before, remember?" Jackie said hoping to jog his memory and get him to take her to the mall, "And that wasn't so bad."

Thinking back to the shopping trip the two had taken together years ago, Eric couldn't fight the smile that was forming on his lips, "Well, you did help me get shoulders."

"So does that mean we can go?" She asked hopefully.

Eric took his eyes off the road and looked at Jackie, "Do you have any candy bars in your purse?"

"No." she replied in a sadder tone until an idea sparked into her mind, "But I'll buy you one of those jumbo sized pretzels."

"Deal."

With an agreement reached Eric turned the Vista Cruiser at the next light to get onto the road that would take them to the mall while his passenger grinned largely and clapped her hands blissfully.

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><p><em><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Well there you go, Chapter one of "'Tis the Season to Go Shopping" Hope you liked!_

_Planning on posting the next chapter in the next few days, that is of course if you all want me to continue it. :D _

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, see you next time, take care, and have a nice day!_


	2. That's What Gift Giving is All About

_**Disclaimer: **I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note:** Hello everyone! How are you guys? Hope you all are doing well and your holidays are going well! Hope you've almost finished your Christmas shopping, we still haven't over and that's why I really hope you guys have finished and not going through this crazy last minute shopping like me and my family are lol Back to the fic though! Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing! All of your wonderful words really made my day and warmed me up in the cold weather. Christmas sugar cookies for each of you! So happy that you all are enjoying it! Had some doubts at first but thanks to you all they're all gone! Here's the next chapter and like I said they won't be very long chapters, but I figure it works better this way, you can read them easier in just about one sitting. Anywoo I need to get ready to go the mall-AGAIN- so I cute this short! Hope you like and please review if you can! Enjoy!_

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><p>Point Place's Mall had fully decked out their boughs of holly and donned their apparel. And then some.<p>

There were long strands of garlands hanging from the ceilings and just about on every wall. Strands of lights were founds shinning from the garland as large shinny ornaments ranging from the traditional silver and gold to the wilder colors of purple and pink dangling down from them. The walls that weren't decorated with garlands had Christmas wreaths hanging on them; the wreaths seeming to get larger and larger. Paper cut-outs of the various Christmas characters could also be seen taped up against most of the shopping windows and their theme songs along with other Christmas melodies could be heard playing in nearby speakers.

And of course the big Christmas tree in the middle of the shopping center, which was so elegantly decorated you knew that was the one section of the mall that was decorated by a professional. Thought that was most probably because the giant tree was also part of Santa's Workshop where dozens and dozens of the little kids were lined up eagerly awaiting their turn to sit on the jolly man's lap and reveal what they wished fro most this Christmas.

All of it put together made such a beautiful sight. It would have filled any Grinch with the Christmas Spirit.

However it was all overlooked by Eric as he concentrated on something he wasn't use to seeing in Point Place's Mall. People. And not just people, but people and people and people on top of more people. People of different ages, some young and some old. Some yelling and screaming, some looking like they had a bad cold. Eric was sure if The Grinch had seen this part of Christmas he would have let that sleigh fall off that cliff.

With a horrified look on his face Eric turned to a grinning Jackie, "On second thought, I like not having shoulders. I can go through doors a lot easier. Come on let's go…"

Before he could even fully turn himself around to face the doors they had just entered through Jackie grabbed his upper arm to bring him to a halt.

"What about your pretzel?" she asked, knowing that reminder would keep him in the mall for a good hour or two.

"The mall does have the best pretzels." Eric said with a sigh after taking a few seconds to think over his reply; he hadn't wanted to say he didn't want the pretzel any more or that it was just a pretzels, but he couldn't. The mall pretzels were really good. Jackie nodded in agreement.

"Okay, we'll get your pretzels in a while. First things first." Jackie began to say, her tone going from nice and casual to one that was more firm and sounding as if she were on an important mission. She looked up at Eric, her eyes looking into his with a determined glare. "What is Steven getting me for Christmas?"

"What? Why would I know? I don't know" Eric asked with a puzzled frown.

The way he'd quickly changed his response, and even answering the question with another question and then answering his own question was not at all lost on Jackie. She grinned happily knowing the true meaning behind Eric's words.

"Yes, you do." She stated in a tone that sounded like she was almost singing.

Eric stared back and shook his head, "No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"No. I don't."

"Yes. You do."

"Fine." Eric said with a frustrated sigh, "If I say yes I do will that end the conversation and mean we can go get my pretzel?"

Jackie shook her head, "No, because then you would have to tell me what it is that Steven bought me. You can't just say you know what it is and then walk away." She said in a 'how do you not know this' type of voice.

"Jackie, I'm not telling you what Hyde is getting you for Christmas." He said trying to sound and look as serious as he could.

A smile sprung back up onto Jackie's face and she pointed her finger at Eric, "So then you do know what he's getting me!"

The seriousness that Eric had tried his best to keep in tact faded away as his eyes widened slightly with shock when he realized he had been tricked, "What? No. No. I meant whether I knew—which I don't—or not what Hyde was getting you I wouldn't tell you." He attempted to save himself and even change the subject of conversation a little, "Why do you want to know so badly anyway?"

"So I can make sure that my gift to him is better than the gift he gives to me." Jackie flat-out explained.

Though it didn't clear up much of Eric's confusion, "Why?"

Jackie gave a quick roll of her eyes, "Because that's what gift giving is all about."

"I'm sorry, but…what?" Eric practically screeched out his facial expression showing much confusion and even more shock.

"Yeah." The brunette nodded, "And this way if I buy Steven a better present then he'll feel so guilty about what he bought me and one of two things will happen, either A. He'll go out and buy me a really expensive gift that better than his or B. He'll be wrapped around my finger for the net few weeks and I can get him to do whatever I want him to do. Personally I'm hoping for B."

Eric looked back at Jackie; rapidly blinking his eyes wondering if the shallow explanation had really been what he'd heard her say—then again this was Jackie so it was more than likely that he had. His mind struggled to accept the idea and his mouth struggled to find words to argue against it.

"Jackie…I…that's… it's…No!" he exclaimed earning him a scowl from Jackie and a few fellow shoppers passing by. "That's not gift giving is about. At all. It's about giving not receive. Not out doing each other."

"Well at least this explains why all the gifts you give usually stink." She fired while crossing her arms over her chest.

"You're supposed to buy great gifts because you want buy great gifts." Eric went on, ignoring the previous statement from the midget brunette, "You buy them because it's something someone really, really wants. Or because you love them and what to show them just how much. You might even just buy a great gift because it had a really great sale price. But you don't buy great gifts to get better fits later or to wrap people around your finger."

"Yeah, maybe you don't Linus but the rest of the world does."

Jackie then began to walk off ahead to get a start on their shopping leaving Eric standing in his spot with a slightly perplexed look on his face.

"Linus?" he repeated not being use to being called this Peanut character; he shrugged and then decided to catch up with the strolling brunette a few feet away from him. "Well at least he can kick a football."

Turning her head to see over her shoulder, Jackie looked Eric up and down, "Yeah, but you look a lot more like Charlie Brown."

While Jackie continued on her merry way, the words stopped Eric right in his tracks. His green eyes became large with fear, he had heard before from his friends that he was similar to Charlie Brown in many ways but appearance had never been one. As his heartbeat quicken, his hands swiftly flew up to the top of his head in search of even the smallest bald spot. He even began to search around for a mirror or any shinny object that would show him his reflection but he immediately stopped his actions all together when he heard Jackie's laughter of amusement.

"That's not funny." He declared angrily, stomping at a quick pace to catch up with the giggling young woman, "You've seen my dad!"

0o0o0o

"My stomach hurts." Eric groaned in a very unhappy tone as he dragged himself and his many shopping bags through the crowded mall.

"I told you not to eat that pretzel so fast." Reminded Jackie, who was a few happier steps ahead of Eric.

Though Eric wasn't feeling too well—the crowds doing nothing to help—he didn't feel so terrible that he couldn't argue a little bit."My stomach doesn't hurt because I ate the pretzel fast, it's because I didn't have anything to drink it with. Told you should've bought a soda."

"And I told you I would buy you a pretzel not a meal." Jackie pointed out, never looking back at Eric and instead focusing on the windows of the many stores.

"Yeeaahh, we have to go over what you think a meal is again."

Jackie let the comment slide and be forgotten as something new and shinny, sparkling in the department store window grabbed a hold of her attention; it was practically calling her name, she has to have it! "Oo let's go in here!"

She reached behind her and grasped Eric's arm with her small hand before pulling him towards the entrance of one of the larger stores in Point Place's mall. Eric hated the idea of entering another swarming shop that made a can of sardines look roomy and when he looked up at the ceiling, praying fro strength, he caught the name of the store and he began to loathe the idea even more!

"Jackie…" he whimpered as if that would stop her, "We were just in this store not even an hour ago."

"I know." Jackie replied yet never stopped her feet from leading them into the shop, instead she just smiled brightly and spoke with even more excitement from before, "But that was an hour ago. They might have brought out some new stuff by now!"

After giving her explanation Jackie made her way into the store without another thought, Eric on the other hand didn't move as quickly. The young college student remained at the entrance scanning his eyes over the growing crowds and wondering if maybe it would be wise to just wait out here for Jackie. Probably not. She got mad when he tried to go to the restroom without telling her.

What had he gotten himself into? He asked mentally asked himself. Why had he agreed to come shopping? Why had agreed to come shopping with Jackie? Maybe he should have just stayed at home and let Red shove his foot up his…no, no this shopping trip was bad but it wasn't that bad.

Taking a deep breath Eric, decided to just go in and hope that Jackie would realize it was pointless coming back into a store that they—well technically she—had already looked through and bought stuff from. Letting out the breath of air slowly and tightening his grip on the shopping bags in his hands, Eric stepped into the busy department store. His first thought was to rush through the mob of shoppers and make his way to Jackie as quick as he possibly could. She was short and so was pretty easy to lose in the crowd; then that of course would lead to spending even more unnecessary time in this store.

However, Eric rush through plan did have a few loopholes and obstacles. Like the shopping bags in his hands along with other shoppers and their own bags. Eric couldn't have 'run' more than two feet when he knocked into a slightly older man, he apologized and then stepped back but that had lead him to bump into one of the store workers. Once a quick apology had been made Eric turned to the opening he spotted in the crowd, he hurried towards it, even once bumping into another woman with several shopping bags that had somehow managed to get tangled with his own….well Jackie's bags…he was almost at the gap, he could see the light! Then suddenly just before he could reach it a young mother pushed her baby's stroller up, blocking the clear exit.

It took a few more minutes and a lot more mumbled apologies before Eric finally managed to escape and meet up with Jackie who was contently looking at the display of holiday jewelry.

Looking disheveled, Eric cleared his throat as he turned to Jackie, "Ok, um Jackie. Explain to me again why I am holding your shopping bags."

"Because I asked you to hold them when I was tying my shoe, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Eric nodded but as he looked down he caught a glimpse of Jackie's shoes and his head snapped right back up, "Jackie! You're…you're wearing boots! Boots that don't even have laces!"

"I know that." the young woman answered Zenly before letting a smile break out onto her lips, "But you didn't."

Too exhausted to argue Eric slumped his shoulders and voiced another thought that had entered his head, "You know, shopping with you last time was a lot more fun than it is now. Because…well actually for a lot of reasons but most because I didn't have to carry your bags.'

"Well of course you didn't carry my bags back then, you were huffing and puffing carrying my purse alone." Jackie said casually as she examined a charm bracelet with different Christmas charms and mini-jingling bells. "That was before you went to Africa and bulked up."

Both of Eric's brows raised up a few inches at the words and he tried to contain a smug smirk, "You think, you think I bulked up?"

"Yeah." Jackie nodded, without a fight.

There was no hiding Eric's proud smile now and this time he even began to examine his arms that no longer resembled twigs off a tree branch; he opened his mouth the respond to Jackie's statement but apparently she wasn't done.

"It's a good thing too." she added casually, "We were beginning to wonder who would carry who over the threshold if you and Donna ever started talking marriage again. It wasn't looking to good for you."

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><p><em><strong>Author's Note: <strong>And that my friends is Chapter 2 of 'Tis the Season to Go Shopping' Hope you liked!_

_Some of these things have actually happened to me when I've gone shopping. The carrying someone else bags while they 'tie' their shoe happens to me ALL the time lol_

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, remember only 8 more days Christmas, and have a nice day!_


	3. Top Three Reasons to Go Shopping

_**Disclaimer: **I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note:** Hello all! Well first off how are you? Hope you're doing well! Sorry for a bit of a wait on this chapter got busy with getting ready for Christmas and hadn't had a chance to sit down and write but I did take the time to do it last night stayed up kinda late too so if there are a lot of errors I apologize in advance. Thank you all for your very touching and wonderful reviews. They really are so meaningful, they've made my holiday season even brighter! Here are some freshly baked Chocolate Crinkles for you! Also wanted to get your opinion on something. I've got some of the next chapter done and it really won't take me too long to finish it since these chapters are pretty short but would you want to me to post that chapter and the following to come as soon as they are done, meaning they'd be posted on Christmas eve or Christmas Day. I have no problem with that but I wanted to see what you all thought. Would that be okay? Or would you rather me wait till after the holidays to post again? Any thoughts would be very helpful! Anywoo thanks again for the reviews and support, I really am so glad you all are enjoy the story! Hope you like this chapter! Enjoy!_

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><p>An hour and a half later the twosome had finally left that department store, though Eric wasn't thanking his stars just yet. Once they'd left that store they went into another one that seemed to be even worse than the one before! It was as if the people in the store he and Jackie had been in previously heard Jackie announce the next store they were going to and then followed them! In fact Eric had seen a few familiar faces from the store before, including a creepy looking guy in a really bad Christmas sweater who was freaking Eric out just a bit.<p>

Of course some of the people could have very well come on their own; the store was having Holiday Sales Day. However as great as shopping sales are there is a downfall some over look. With more sales comes bigger crowds which means longer lines and this current store had all three of those things.

Though Eric viewed them more as obstacles as he fought his way through them with his arms still filled with shopping bags—including the four new ones that had come with Jackie's latest purchases. While Jackie on the other hand glided her way through the mobs problem free. Then again the only bag she was holding was her purse and she was tiny so she fit between small spaces a lot easier than Eric did. Incidentally Eric swore he saw her squeeze through a group of yapping old ladies and then push through a rack of clothes to get to a display of winter boots—all in less than a minute!

After some time and saying a few prayers Eric had finally made it through the crowd as well and was once again by Jackie's side. Currently the two were in the women's section of the store, Jackie happily searching through a circular rack of sweaters as Eric watch her—his face looking more and more like his fathers.

"Okay…"Jackie said before spinning around and showing Eric the two v-neck sweaters, "Which one? Green or purple?"

Looking at the tops that were exactly the same—except for the color—Eric titled his head just slightly to the left, pretending to think it over, "I think I'm gonna have to go with…neither. I mean their nice and all but that v-neck…I'm not really one to show off my chest hair."

Jackie rolled her eyes in annoyance, "Yeah, like you can grow chest hair."

"Hey! I can grow chest hair!" he argued, a bit too loudly.

The statement had been said in such a loud voice it had actually caught the attention of a few spectators. One woman had even stopped walking and stared at Eric for a good few seconds, he wasn't sure if he should have declared to her that he _could_ grow chest hair or go hide in one of the stands of clothing. However, before he could make his decision the sweater holding brunette beside him spoke up.

"For _me_." She added still sounding a bit peeved, "I like really like the sweater but I can't decide on a color. Which do you think?"

Eric stared at the two sweaters, he didn't know what to say! He did know though that as soon as Jackie made her choice they could take off, so if he could help her with this "difficult" decision he would be more that happy to lend a hand.

"The purple one." He said without giving it much thought at all.

Hearing his reply, Jackie looked towards the purple sweater and wrinkled her nose with disgust before turning back to Eric, "Really?"

It didn't take long for Eric to realize he had obviously made the wrong choice. Not wanting to spend another unnecessary minute in this place, he swiftly shook his head and changed his answer.

"No, no. I meant to say green." He said, trying to sound believable, "You know how much purple and green sound the same. Easily confused all the time."

"Why the green one?" she asked unexpectedly.

"Um…because…" Eric struggled for a reply, "it's not the purple one?"

Jackie squinted her eyes into a slight glare, "_Noo_. You're supposed to say 'because Jackie evergreen makes you look ravishing! It brings out your eyes, works so beautifully with your dark pretty hair, makes your skin look like you spent a week on the beach, and—even though you don't need it one bit—it is dark enough to make you look even skinner so you don't have to wear depressing, boring black.'"

Watching Jackie with a blank look on his face and blinked his eyes before letting out a heaving sigh.

"Because Jackie," he started to repeat in a monotone voice and an expression to match, "evergreen makes you look ravishing. It brings out your eyes, works so beautifully with your dark pretty hair, makes your skin look like you spent a week on the beach, and—even though you don't need it one bit…" he paused and tried to remember the last part but his mind was drawing a blank; seconds passed before he decided to just give up, "something about black being boring."

"You are no help, you know that?" Jackie asked angrily.

"I know! I'm not!" Eric agreed sounding almost happy about it, "So why don't you stay here and I'll go hang out with Hyde at _Grooves_ then we'll pick you up when he closes up?"

Jackie shook her head, her facial expression turning serious, "You can't do that."

"Oh really?" Eric asked, sounding as if he had just been challenged.

"Really." She replied.

Eric smirked at the sternness she said her response in, "Oh really?"

"Really."

"And why not?"

Now it was Jackie's turn to smirk, "Because I took the keys to the Vista Cruiser."

Eric's smug face dropped and the shopping bags nearly did the same as he hurriedly moved his hands to his coat pockets digging inside them only to find nothing in them. He pulled his palms out of his coat and into the pockets of his jeans patting them in search of the keys. Nothing.

When did she…? How did she…? She wasn't even… all of these thoughts and more swarmed the inside of Eric's mind. And so with his shock covering his face, Eric looked up at over at Jackie.

"How…." He stammered, "How did you do that?"

"A magician never reveals their secrets." Came Jackie's reply as she scanned over the two sweaters once more.

An indented frown came onto Eric's face as the shock disappeared and he muttered to himself, "A magician or a witch?"

"Okay, let's go." Jackie suddenly said.

Jumping up a little, in fear that she had heard his mumbles, Eric watched Jackie carefully. When no signs of danger emerged, he figured he was safe and began to follow the petite dark haired woman. They were only a few feet away from the clothes rack they'd just been at when Eric noticed something missing. He stopped in his tracks and his scowl reappeared.

"Wait Jackie," he called out stopping Jackie from taking another step, "which sweater are you taking?"

"Neither."

Eric's green eyes enlarged with surprise as he struggled to keep how upset her answer made him to himself, "Wha…What? Jackie, we practically spent a whole half hour looking at those st…" he quickly caught himself—he didn't want to make her mad she had his keys or worse she could make him stay here even longer, "_super _gorgeous sweaters. And you're getting neither?"

"Exactly." She nodded and then gave a shrug, "Sure they're pretty but I figured I could find something prettier somewhere else."

Releasing a heavy sigh, Eric didn't even see the point in arguing this one, "Fine. Can we at least go to another store now?"

"Okay." Jackie surprising agreed without putting up a fight.

Together in a comfortable silence Eric and Jackie started walking away for the department of women's clothes once again. This time they made it off the carpeted section and a step or two into the overfilled hallway when Jackie abruptly froze in her path. She turned to Eric who had stopped seconds after she had.

"You really think those sweaters were super gorgeous?" she questioned.

"I…" Eric paused and then let out another sigh, "I don't even know what the right answer to that is."

Taking that as a 'yes' Jackie twirled herself around and marched over to the display of sweaters that she and Eric had been standing at only moments ago and snatched up the green sweater. Eric wasn't at all happy but he still turned around and hauled himself back to where he'd just come from.

"Jackie…" he whined as he neared her, "you said you were taking neither. That's not taking neither!"

"I know but this sweater pretty. You said it was _super_ gorgeous." She reminded with a pointing index finger, "Normally I wouldn't take your advice on style, I've seen what you_ and_ your girlfriend wear. But still. I can't just leave it here. What if an ugly girl comes and buys it? Or a fat girl?" she gasped, "Or worse an ugly fat girl? No I can't do that to this poor sweater it's too pretty."

"But you said you could find something prettier, remember?"

She nodded her head, "I know. And if I do find something prettier, I'll just buy that too."

"But…you…I…you…we were leaving already!" Eric complained sounding like a child who had been dragged along for some Christmas shopping and was in desperate need of a nap.

"Don't be such a baby, Eric. I'm only buying this one thing. I promise." Jackie said in a meaningful tone, she even began to make her way away from the display when suddenly something caught her eye, "Oo I didn't know they have it in red!"

Eric threw his head back and groaned, "This is how I'm going to die."

0o0o0o

"Oh we need to go over to McGillicuddy and Potter's Dress Shop." Jackie declared as she and Eric walked through the stuffy and highly overcrowded mall.

"For what?" Eric asked, practically screeching; he really thought they were done with shopping for her.

"For shoes." Jackie replied in deep sarcasm, though afraid that Eric would take her seriously she decided to change her tone, "For a dress."

"You bought a dress. You bought five dresses!"

She turned to look Eric straight in the eye, "Eric, I need a new outfit for every day of the twelve days of Christmas."

"Jackie, you have almost _twenty seven_ new outfits!" Eric argued as he lifted up his bag holding arms—two more bags had been added to the buddle.

The raven haired beauty halted herself and glared at the tall man beside her, "You can't expect me to start a _new_ year with _old _clothes."

"Oh, of course not." Eric replied with a mocking type of sincerity, "I don't know what I was thinking!"

Instead of firing back Jackie merely turned on her heel and started up her journey again. Eric wasn't sure if it was because she was ignoring the sarcasm or because she hadn't caught it. He did however, know that her destination remained that McGillicuddy and Potter's Dress Shop—a shop in the mall that was much smaller than the major shops, mostly because it was a local business, so that meant it was going to be even more packed than the stores he thought were bad before.

There had to be some way to get out of going in there, or at the very least postpone the trip. Racking his brain, Eric struggled to come up with a plan. But the only thing coming to mind was a question, a question though that could be one to keep him out of all dress shops.

"So when you said earlier, 'Christmas shopping' you meant Christmas shopping for…?" he waited for her to finish the sentence.

"Me. Who else am I going to shop for?" she asked a question that might have been thought of as a selfish one if she hadn't added in the last part, "I already bought everyone else's gifts."

Eric frowned with confusion, "Wait…so you finished your Christmas shopping already?"

"Yup! About a week ago." She admitted with a proud smile until she caught on to what Eric was getting at and that smile turned to a more amused one, "You haven't?"

"What? Yes! Of course I've finished my Christmas shopping!" Eric replied, pretending to sound astonished at such a thought, "Psh! I finished _two_ weeks ago."

Jackie didn't look very convinced but she still gave a small, "Uh huh."

"Yeah." Eric nodded but then his strong voice turning to a smaller, less determined and more shy one, "I just I have a couple of gifts I still need to buy."

"Gifts for who?"

"Well my mom and dad." He began, "And Donna. And Hyde. And Kelso. And Fez. And You. And Brooke. And Betsy…pretty much everyone except Laurie."

A puzzled look crossed Jackie's face at the end part of Eric's statement. His absent whore of a sister was the only one he'd bought a gift for?

Catching the expression, Eric started to explain, "It's a piece of coal. We give a piece to each other every year; we've been doing it since we were kids It's like a nice Christmas tradition."

Though she let out a tiny giggle, Jackie was still confused by this 'tradition.' Why would you give each other coal year after year. If she was Eric's sister and he'd given her a piece of coal for Christmas she would've thrown it back at him ending the 'tradition' then and there. But instead of sharing that with Eric, Jackie chose to keep the subject on the Christmas shopping part.

"Eric, why didn't you tell me you weren't done Christmas shopping?" she asked while delivering a smack onto his arm, "I could have been helping you! Shopping for other people is one of the top three reasons to go shopping."

As he rubbed his injured arm, Eric decided to ask, "And the other two reasons are?"

"Shopping for yourself and shopping to relieve stress."

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><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong> And that is Chapter 3 of "Tis the Season to Go Shopping" Hope you liked!_

_Remember to tell me if you think it's okay for me to post on Christmas eve/Christmas Day or if I should wait till afterwards, if you can of course._

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, remember only four more days till Christmas, and have a nice day!_


	4. No Gas Station Christmas Gift

_**Disclaimer: **I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note: **Hello there everyone! How are you all? Getting ready for Christmas? That's what we're doing at my house an dthinsg are getting pretty crazy but it's all fun :D But because we're doing so many things right now and the day before I didn't have time to finish the second half of this chapte. Usually I like to post two scenes for each chapter but could only finish one this time around I am so very sorry about that. I really wanted to post today so I figured I would at least post this part. Hope you all don't mind the shortness. I'll be posting the next part soon! Not sure about tomorrow cause it'll be another busy day and I have another fic planned for tomorrow that I hope you all will check out too if you have the chance. Oh and thank you so very much for all the marvelous reviews that you all have left. They mean so very much! And for each of you I have some chocolate crinkle cookies! You all really are too kind and I thank you so much for all of your lovely words. I'm glad you are enjoying the story and I hope you enjoy his short little chapter today. Again I apologize for the shortest. And before I close up this author's note I wanted to say I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and some Very Happy Holidays! Enjoy!_

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><p>"Okay who are we missing now?" Jackie asked as she and Eric walked out of one of the bigger department stores.<p>

Eric looked up from the receipt in his hand and scanned the shopping list he had in his head before answering Jackie's question, "Um just Fez and Kelso. But they're pretty easy to shop for, I could get their gifts at the gas station and they'd be happy. I can get their stuff later."

"No one else?" asked Jackie.

"Well I didn't your gift yet…"

"Oo yay!" the brunette said happily with a quick clap of her hands and a bright smile on her face, "That's my favorite person to shop for!"

It seemed as though Jackie was just about to take off running when Eric spoke up, halting her and holding her in place by gently grabbing her arm.

"But I don't wanna buy your gift with you here." He explained and an appalled scowl instantly appeared on her face.

"What? That's not fair!" Jackie argued with a slight whine in her voice that was quickly dropped when she went on with her point, she wanted to make argument as assertive as possible, "I helped you shop for everyone else's gifts, making sure you didn't buy anyone anything ugly or tacky. If I let you go shopping for my gift by yourself how do I know you won't just go buy me something stupid or cheap from the gas station when you buy Fez and Michael's gifts?"

Eric shrugged his shoulders, "You're just gonna have to trust me."

"Fine." She finally muttered after a several seconds had passed; then pointed her index finger in Eric's direction, "But remember I like sparkly, shinny, expensive things."

"Yeah, I know." Eric commented as he lifted up the twelve different shopping bags that hung from his arms.

Jackie smiled at the sight as if proud of herself for making so many purchases—though to be fair four of those bags were Eric's, they were the smallest ones but still were his. With her grin still in place Jackie turned back around and began her passage to the next store; though Eric had no idea where she was going and he was still a bit puzzled by the smile she'd given him, he still followed close behind her.

They walked in a peaceful silence enjoying the sound of The Christmas Song playing over the overhead speakers, until Eric voiced some of the thoughts in his mind.

"You know that actually wasn't so bad." He shared, "Usually when I go Christmas shopping it's a lot worse. It takes me almost five hours to find one gift and buy that time I usually end up buying all the other gifts as stuff that are the closest to the register."

"That's because this time you had me to help you. And I'm an award winning shopper." Jackie remarked, sounding just slightly conceited, which confused Eric even more than before, "Plus I know what everyone wants, needs, and likes. You….well you don't."

Eric frowned, "What? Yes I do! _And_ I've known everyone longer than you have, which means I know them better so I think I _do_ know what they like, want, and need."

"Yeah, you would think it would work that way." Jackie replied with a small tilt of her head.

"No, it does work that way." He fought back, "I had some really great gifts picked out before you showed me the stuff you had found." Eric suddenly paused as recalled some of the items he had found during his shopping trip, "Well okay maybe not that vase for Donna…and Hyde's really hard to shop for…but you've gotta at least give me my parents. I definitely know them better than you do and had some really nice gift ideas for them."

Stopping and turned to Eric so that he could see the unamused, blank expression her face, Jackie said, "You wanted to get your dad a cap and your mom a kitchen towel."

"Those are good gifts!" the college student protested, "Red could hide his baldness with the cap and Mom's always in the kitchen and…" the determined tone Eric started his statement slowly winded down as he came to a horrible realization, "You're right. I'm a terrible gift giver."

Jackie gave a small sympathetic pat to his back, "The first step is admitting it."

"Thanks for helping me, Jackie. I really appreciate it." Eric said in a much sincere voice.

"You're welcome." She replied returning the smile before dropping it to let her face become a more serious one, "But that means no gas station Christmas gift!"

Eric nodded, "Right. But PriceMart is okay right?"

When Eric caught the death glare the former cheerleader was sending his way he quickly lifted up his open palms to defend himself; feeling frightened but at the same time trying his best to hold back a grin.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding." He tried to assure, "Hey how about some lunch? My treat."

The death glare now gone, Jackie smiled and gave a quick nod, "Okay."

"Great. I think we should go to The Hub and since it's close to Grooves we can over there afterwards to hang out with Hyde. By that time it'll be close to closing so you won't get the chance to put Donny and Marie infront of Kiss." Eric rambled on not paying much attention to anything around him, including the young woman he was rambling too, "Then we can all go home and wait for Donna. Oh and Mom said they were airing _Frosty_ tonight and…you're frowning. Why are you frowning?"

Sure enough there was a large frown intended onto Jackie's forehead along with her arms crossed over her chest. It was obvious that she was currently a very unhappy camper.

"We're not gonna eat lunch _now_."

"Why not?" Eric asked for both him and his growling stomach.

Scowl still in place and arms still folded, Jackie explained, "Because we're not done shopping yet."

"What?" Eric screeched out with shock, not caring who stopped to stare at him this time, "Jackie how can you say we're not done shopping yet? I'm done with my Christmas shopping for today and you…you've _got_ to be done shopping for you." He declared while lifting up his bag filled arms to strengthen his point.

"I am done shopping for me."

"Then who are you shopping for now?" he questioned.

"Everyone else." came Jackie's response in a light tone of voice.

Eric's brows pushed in even closer together, "I thought you said you were done with your Christmas shopping!"

"I was." She nodded but her story wasn't finished, "But after helping you with your Christmas shopping some of the gifts you bought are better than the ones I bought so now I have to go out and buy things that are better than all of the gifts you bought." Seeing the blank look in the eyes of Eric, Jackie continued on, "Christmas isn't just about outdoing the person you're exchanging gifts with. It's about outdoing _everyone._ When Christmas is over I want people to look at their pile of gifts and say 'My best present this year came from The Great Jackie Burkhart.'"

Not having the strength to argue, Eric lift up his arm to run his hand over his face, however the bags were a lot heavier now so his arm could only go up so much; he ended up bending down a little so his hand could reach is face. Then after rubbing his face and moved himself back up into a straighter position he caught a glimpse of something that made him feel hopeful again.

"Fine." He quickly agreed, "But you go finish your shopping and I'm gonna go wait for you over there where all those other guys are sitting."

Frowning just a bit Jackie followed the index finger Eric was pointing and saw two long benches where a group of men were sitting. Some were young some were old but they all had shopping bags around them—some even had purses in their laps—and did not look at all happy.

She shook her head, "You can't go sit over there."

"But those guys are!" Eric whined, sounding like a young child again.

"Those men are husbands or fiancés waiting for their wives or future wives to finish shopping. We are not getting married nor are we engaged. So you can't go sit over there."

With a serious look on his face, Eric stared back at her, "Jackie, marry me."

Shaking her head and fighting a smile Jackie grabbed a hold of Eric's wrist and pulled him into the nearest store with her.

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><p><em><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Well there you go a little (yes very little I know, sorry) holiday gift from me to you, Chapter 4 of 'Tis the Season to Go Shopping' Hope you liked!_

_Again hope you all have the happiest of holidays! Enjoy the time with your family, no matter how crazy they get.:D_

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, Happy Holidays and have a very nice day!_


	5. The Most Magical Parts of Christmas

_**Disclaimer: **I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note: **Hello All! How are you? Hope you're doing well. Also hope you all had some wonderful holiday and your New Years has been off to a great start. So very sorry about taking so long to post up this new chapter. Got abit busy with life and writing other stories, one includes my other JE fic 'Two Weeks' so I think that's some good news…right? lol Anywoo I want to thank you all for such lovely and kind reviews. The truly mean the world to me. Fresh chocolate brownies for all of you! Well I don't have much to say right now, but I just wanna say thank you so much again for everything and I do hope you all enjoy this chapter. Only one more chapter to go! Hopefully it'll be up sometime this coming week. Okay I'm done now. Hope you like. Please review if you can. And as always, Enjoy!_

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><p>Jackie Burkhart happily walked her way through the shopping mall that now had a smaller crowd than before; however not small enough for Eric who was following the brunette with an emotionless expression on his face. He'd given up fighting and had come up the new strategy of just standing back quietly and letting Jackie do what she wanted and needed to do until she was through. Basically having her shop until well she dropped or got bored…whichever came first…Eric's money was on the dropping part.<p>

Unfortunately the plan had been in action for the past hour or so and Jackie was still shopping like she had just arrived at the mall from out of town—a town that had and had never heard of a mall.

Still there was a small silver lining. Eric was no longer holding the 'millions' of bags Jackie had acquired during her shopping trip, instead they were piled up in the back of the Vista Cruiser where the two had dropped them off a good while ago. Yet it seemed like the minute Eric's arms were an unloaded they were filled back up with the four bags Jackie got from just one store!

The twosome walked past department stores Eric felt like they'd past a hundred times today, when all of a sudden something in one of the store's windows caught Jackie's eye and she rushed over to it like a child running to a candy store.

"Oh my God, Eric look at this necklace." She said excitedly to the young man who practically had to force himself to move his feet with every step he took, "Isn't it beautiful?"

"Yup." came Eric's quick response.

Jackie scowled at the reply and turned to show Eric how unhappy his answer had made her before delivering a small slap on his arm, "You didn't even look at it."

"Yes, I did." He argued but with not much of a fight; ignoring the eye roll from Jackie that had ended just as quickly as it began and was then quickly replaced with a beaming smile.

"It is just so pretty." Jackie continued to admire the piece of jewelry before letting out an audible gasp, "And it would go perfect with the new red dress I just bought! Oh and I could wear the new shoe is bought too! The ones without the strap though, because the ones with the strap make look way too tall. Sure being tall is nice but those shoes will have people looking at me and thinking that I clean the Statue of Liberty for a living. You know the same way they look at Donna. Oo! I could wear this outfit for your parents' Christmas party!"

"I mean I know wearing red to a Christmas party is pretty cliché," Jackie continued to speak, another voice joining in with her saying each word she said at just about the same time, "But I can pull it off."

Frowning, Jackie looked at Eric, "How did you know I was gonna say that?"

"I'm physic." He answered without missing a beat but then decided to just come out and tell her the truth—maybe this time it would work in his favor, "I knew you were gonna say that because you've already said it. About five times already. We've walked around this mall twelve times and five out of those twelve times you've stopped and looked at that same jewelry store, come up with different outfits for the Christmas party, and given a speech pretty much the same as that one."

"I've repeated myself five times?" Jackie asked in confusion.

Eric nodded, "Pretty much."

"And we've really walked around the mall twelve times?" she asked in disbelief.

"As much as it pains me to say this, yes. Yes, we have." Eric informed with another nod of his head, "And if you look closely at the floor you can see some of trail of breadcrumbs I left behind during our fifth time around."

Jackie shook her head not believing her ears. She couldn't believe this. How could she not remember walking around this mall so many times. Of course she knew they had made a few trips around the shopping center but twelve? Eric couldn't be serious! This had to be some sort of joke or some sort trick…it was a trick!

"Oh ha ha, Eric." She said in an angry mocking voice, "Very funny."

Eric furrowed his brow, "What's funny?"

"You!"

"Well yeah, but…"

"You!" Jackie continued still sounding upset and pointing her index finger straight at the college student, "You are trying to make me think that I'm going crazy so I'll say that I want to go home and you won't have to do anymore shopping!"

"What? No!" Eric answered back, "I mean that actually does sound like a pretty good plan but that's not at all what I'm doing. We really have walked around this entire mall twelve different times."

With a small huff Jackie crossed her arms over her chest and turned her back towards Eric. He knew then he was going to have to prove to her that this wasn't some kind of prank or that he wasn't trying to be mean to her. He couldn't have her mad at him. She still had his car keys!

"Jackie, I'm serious. We've walked around this mall at least twelve different times and almost every other time we've come to this section of the mall you go straight to that jewelry store and…" Eric suddenly drifted off when he noticed Jackie wasn't even listening to him and instead was focused on watching something off in the distance—something he'd caught her doing before but had never commented on, "And you always stop and look at something over in that direction…what are you looking at?"

Pulling herself out of her trance, Jackie whipped her head around, "Nothing."

"That doesn't sound like nothing." Eric replied obviously not convinced, he looked over to where Jackie had been looking trying to find what she had found so interesting, "What are you…"

And then he saw it. It was right infront of them and you'd have to be blind or a really big Scrooge to miss the display yet it was one of the last things Eric would have ever considered.

"Jackie, were you staring at Santa Claus?"

"No!" Jackie answered almost too quickly.

"You were!" Eric said, his grin growing more and more with each second passing, "And you're blushing. Oh my god. Jackie Burkhart has a thing for Santa Claus."

Jackie's eye widened before the squinted together when she sent a death glare Eric way along with a hard hit on the arm, "Ew! No I don't!"

"I think you do." He replied stilling smiling like a fool, "So what is it that gets to you more? The long white beard or the belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly!"

"I do not have a thing for Santa Claus." Jackie protested, "I wasn't even looking at him!"

Eric wasn't swayed, "Then what were you looking at?"

"I was looking at the kids, waiting in line to see him." Jackie explained after letting out a small sigh.

"Yeah, because that's much better." Eric said, his words dripping with sarcasm.

"Not like that you, freak!" Jackie just about exclaimed with a look of disgust on her face; she shook her head though in hopes of helping the expression fade away. It didn't seem to help all that much and so she turned back to the line of eager children and her smile reappeared in mere seconds, "I was looking at the kids and watching how excited they are to see Santa and go up to tell them what their biggest Christmas wishes are. They're eyes are filled with so much happiness and wonderment. I think that's one of the most magical parts of Christmas."

Eric followed Jackie's gaze and caught the sight of a small child being placed on Santa Claus's lap only to scream bloody murder three seconds later.

"Right, because nothing says Christmas like sitting on some smelly old fat guy's lap and crying the life out of you."

Still smiling Jackie turned to her friend, "You were one of those kids weren't you?"

"Only until I was four." Eric admitted but the brunettes skeptical eyes remained don him, "Fine, six."

Jackie released a small giggle that made Eric give his own smile at the sound.

"I guess you've got a point with it being magical." He started to say as his mind began to drift off to a memory that made his grin grow, "I remember when we were kids and used to come see Santa. Mom would go all out, making sure we were dressed nicely. It was just me and Laurie when we were like little, _little_ and then I met Hyde and he started coming along too because Mom would invite him. Funny thing is, even when it got to those embarrassing years when Mom was still making us take pictures with Santa, Hyde still came along even though he could have easily avoided it."

"Really?" Jackie asked holding in another giggle as she learned a new piece of information about her boyfriend.

"Yup." Eric nodded but then realized he may have shared just a bit too much, "Don't tell him I told you though. Or he'll probably return whatever he got me for Christmas and give me a black eye instead."

"Okay, fine." She replied, though not in the happiest tone, "So what would happen next?"

Eric shrugged his shoulder, "The usual. We'd get to the mall and wait in line. Dad would gripe about how long it was taking. Me and Hyde would be betting on whether the kid on Santa's lap was gonna cry or not. And Laurie would try and flirt her way to the front of the line. It actually almost worked one year."

"Then finally after waiting in line for two hours it would be our turn and we'd tell Santa what we wanted and take our picture, all in less than five minutes…which I'm now just realizing is a total rip off. You know, another thing I remember from when we'd come see Santa Claus is on the way home, I don't know if he did it on his own or if Mom told him to do it but my dad would always take the longest way home." Eric shared as his mind continued its trip down memory lane, "We'd drive by the stores and through different neighborhoods looking at snow and all the different Christmas lights and decorations. Christmas carols would be playing on the radio and Mom would sing along and try to get us to do the same; after the third or fourth song though, she'd give up."

"And then we'd get home and drink hot chocolate while watching whatever Christmas movie that was playing on TV."

Jackie smiled at the image Eric had painted for her but said nothing; she really wanted him to continue with his story.

"Man, I can still remember sitting there in the living room." He said while shaking his head but keeping his grin in place, "Mom and Red would sit together on the couch, he usually ended up falling asleep half way through the movie. Me and Hyde were on the floor with our drinks, Hyde usually slept over that night. And even Laurie would manage to sit with us through the whole movie on Red's chair."

"Sounds like another great Forman Family Tradition." Jackie said with a smile.

"Yeah." He nodded, still thinking back to those simpler times, "What about you?"

Frowning just a bit she repeated the question, "What about me?"

"What was it like when your parents brought you to se Santa Claus?" Eric asked, expanding his question.

"Oh." came Jackie's response as her smile fell and her face showed a unexpected sadness, "Well you know how distracted my mom can get…"

Eric gave an understanding nod, "She has the attention span of a fly."

The comment brought Jackie's smile back even if it was in a smaller form, "Right. So she never even tried to bring me to see Santa. Daddy did though. He would never let any of my nannies bring me either because he said it was something a little girl should do with her parents and not the help." Once again the petite young woman's smile diminished, "But every time we would get ready to go see Santa, something important with work would pop up and Daddy would have to postpone. And then postpone again. And postpone again. He would postpone all the way until January."

"So you never got to see Santa Claus?" Eric asked, wearing a curious frown.

"Well I got to see him at the different Christmas parties that Daddy took me too." Jackie explained, her cheerful tone slowly starting to come back, "But I never made it to see him at the mall."

Standing still in his spot Eric couldn't believe his ears. How could someone have NEVER taken picture with a mall Santa or gotten to tell him what they wanted for Christmas? It was crazy, unfair, and pretty sad too. No one should be able to say something like that and have it be true. Not even Jackie Burkhart.

Not wanting to waste another second, Eric reach over and grabbed Jackie's wrist, "Let's go."

"Eric, where are we going?" she questioned, trying to contain her smile as he literally pulled her along.

"We're gonna get you a picture with Santa Claus." He explained, turning his head around to face him but never stopping his moving feet, "No child should be deprived of that traumatic…I mean wonderful experience."

Jackie stopped in her tracks, making Eric stop as well. The unexpected halt caused Eric to turn around once again, this time seeing Jackie's eyes wide with shock.

"Ew!" she screeched, "Eric, I can't go up there and take a picture with Santa Claus. Do you know how creepy and disturbing it would be if _I_ went and sat on some old guys lap?"

"Okay, well I take the picture with you. It'll be you and me with Santa Claus." Eric replied hoping that would be the end of that.

"Great, so I'll be taking a picture with two freaks." She commented, remaining immobile, "Besides, I'm a mess. I can't take a picture looking like this."

Eric dropped his shoulder and just about threw his head back in frustration, "Jackie, you look fine…"

"I look beautiful!" Jackie declared with a pointed finger.

"Right, right. You look beautiful. It'll be fun. And they give candy canes afterwards. That should hold me over till lunch and probably be what you consider lunch." He tried but Jackie had still not taken another step, but he wasn't giving up just yet. "Come on, Jackie. I'll even be willing to take and pay for as many pictures as it takes until we take what you see in your eyes as the 'perfect picture.'"

A smile found its way back onto Jackie's pink lips, "And you promise you won't cry this time?"

Eric smirked and gave a nod, "I'll try my best not to."

And with that said Jackie's smile grew even more as Eric continued to hold onto her wrist, the two of them racing over to the line that led to Santa Claus looking much like the other excited six year olds waiting in the line.

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><p><em><strong>Author's Note: <strong>And that my friends is Chapter 5 of "'Tis the Season to Go Shopping" I hope you liked!_

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, and have a nice day!_


	6. The Best Shopping Buddy

_**Disclaimer: **I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note: **Hello Everyone! How are you all doing today? Hope you're having a good day and if not hope this chapter cheers you up alittle. Sorry for the long wait, I got kinda busy working on 'Two Weeks' which is good news for you if you have been waiting for an update on that story. It's coming very very soon. In the meantime though there's still tis little story to hold you over! This is the last chapter of story, I know I'm a little sad too. But part of me is still so happy with the fact that so many of you enjoyed this story, all the wonderful words of encouragement and praise that you guys left on all of the chapters, it means so very much to me! Thank you, thank you, Thank you! Homemade chocolate chip cookies for all of you! Hope you all enjoy this chapter—it's a little shorter but aren't most last chapters short, and I think it wraps everything up nicely. Okay I won't keep you any longer, go on and read and always Enjoy!_

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><p>"Isn't it amazing that all of the pictures we took all came out so great?" Jackie asked as she skimmed the pile of photographs in her hand while walking through the shopping mall door that Eric held open for her. "Well I mean not <em>amazing<em>, because I am after all, in the picture so you kind of already knew they were gonna be good. But these are perfect! Even with you in them."

"So if they're so perfect why did we have to take twenty-four of them?" Eric asked, pulling his jacket closer to him to try to protect him from the cold they'd just walked into.

"I wanted to make sure." She replied with a shrug, "But fine because you did pay for them I'll let you keep one. Um…" Jackie then went on to rifle through the stack in search of a photo she was willing to give up; at last finding one, she handed over the picture with a smile, "Here you go."

Eric looked down at the photo in his hands and smiled, "Aww, you know I was hoping you would give this one. Love how I've got my eyes closed."

"Oh wait." She said, ignoring the sarcasm and looking over at the photo before snatching it back, "I wanted that one. I'll find you another one."

Jackie then once again browsed through the twenty-four different Santa photos, trying to decide which one she should give to Eric. She flipped through them at least three different times before giving up and turning to a frowning Eric who was still wondering why she wanted the photo of him with his eyes closed.

"We'll figure it out later." She said ending the subject with a wave of her hand and then putting the photos away in her purse.

In a comfortable silence the twosome crossed the street that led them off the sidewalk surrounding the mall and into the swarming parking lot. As soon as they walked past the first parked car Jackie decided to she couldn't wait any longer.

With a short and simple 'Here' she extended her arm out infront of Eric, dangling a medium sized shopping bag—that had already been gift wrapped—in her hand. Eric eyed the brunette suspiciously for a good few seconds before lifting up his opened palms to protect himself while stepping back several steps.

"Oh no you don't!" he declared, "We split _your_ shopping bags up _evenly_. You carry five bags and I carry five bags. You are not making me carry a sixth bag, no ma'am! And by the way that was pretty weak. You didn't even look down to pretend like you saw your shoes were untied."

She rolled her eyes before speaking, "That's because it's not like those other bags, I'm not trying to make you carry it. It's for you."

"Really?" he asked in surprise.

"Yeah. Take it."

Eric did as he was told—a bit too cautiously—but still did grab the bag. When the bag was out of her hands, Jackie shook her head and took off walking ahead of Eric. However, she started to feel like something was missing by the time she had walked past a red van and a blue mustang, so she turned around only to find Eric still standing two cars away, with the gift bag held close up to the side of his head.

"What are you doing?" she questioned with a scowl, marching her way back to where he was standing.

Not looking at Jackie and instead just concentrating on the bag, Eric began to explain, "I'm making sure there's nothing ticking. I've seen this before in a Bugs Bunny cartoon when Yosemite Sam tried to give Bugs a present."

"If don't want it I'll take it back." Jackie offered though it sounded more like a threat.

Still Sam never did that with Bugs, maybe it was a safe gift.

"No, no. I want it." Eric said still sounding and looking very warily; he carefully reached into the bag and searched for whatever was hidden inside of it. After a few seconds he found his gift and pulled it out of the bag, the second his eyes saw it all of his worries and fears concerning Jackie and her gift went away. "Oh wow! Jackie this is the "Battle Damaged" X-Wing Fighter…I was just looking at this at the toy store we went into…How did you…when did you…"he suddenly stopped his questions when he remembered something that had been discussed earlier, "Oh right, a magician never reveals their secrets."

"Secrets?" Jackie repeated with a scowl, "Please! I saw that you liked it and when you were busy playing with those remote control toy dogs I bought it. You get distracted way too easily."

Eric nodded, still admiring his new toy, "True. Really though, thanks Jackie. This is…this is really cool."

"You're welcome." She said with a small shrug, "It's just a little something to say thank you for bringing me shopping and staying with me the whole time. I had fun."

"Yeah sure, you know…it really wasn't that bad." Eric admitted, a smile cracking onto his lip as he put his gift back into its bag, "I guess I did have fun too."

The second Jackie heard the words a smile sprung into place and her entire face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Oh my God, Eric, I am so glad to hear you say that because I have a proposition for you." She said in a sing song type of voice.

Now Eric was even scared than before, "Um ok, Jackie. It's….it's not one where I have to like sell you my soul or offer you my first born right?"

"_Noo_." She replied, still smiling after ignoring the devil insult, "How would you like to become my new Shopping Buddy?"

Nodding and smiling a small smile, he answer, "Oh okay, so it's actually worse than either of those two."

"Come on Eric, you just said you had fun too." Jackie reminded in a slight whine.

"Yeah, I was being polite!" Eric shot back, the terror of coming back to a shopping mall with Jackie already filling him, there had to be some way out without hurting her feelings too badly, "Besides even if I did wanna be your 'Shopping Buddy'—and I'm not saying that I do—I live over in Madison. I wouldn't be able to come shopping with you everyday."

Jackie frowned, "You really think I come shopping everyday?"

"Yes!" Eric answered wasting no time in saying.

"Well I don't." she informed with a sneer until she realized that wouldn't be the best way to get Eric to agree to her offer so she brought her smile back into place—she'd save the pout incase things really started going bad, "And it's not like you would be the only one, I have other Shopping Buddies. There's Donna, but when I shop with her she only likes to shop for about an hour tops. There's your mom, she likes to shop longer than Donna but also likes to shop for herself and that takes time away from shopping for me. And then there's Fez who's a really good Shopping Buddy but it always seems like every thirty minutes I have to buy him another one of those giant chocolate chip cookies."

Eric knitted his eyebrows closer together with much confusion, he looked back behind him at the mall and then back at Jackie, "Wait. Giant chocolate chip cookie? Where were those?"

"I just asked because today, you were the best Shopping Buddy I've ever had." Jackie shared ignoring Eric's question and using the strategy of a speaking in a softer and sadder type of tone, "I mean I had the most fun with you and I thought it would be nice to do again."

Watching a disappointed Jackie stare down at her feet did something Eric that made him think of the part in _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_ when the Grinch's heart grew threw sizes and broke the x-ray thing; only he didn't have a large smile on his face and instead just let out a large sigh of defeat.

"Either it's a Christmas Miracle or I'm just _really_ tired…" he began to say, "But fine. Jackie, I will be your Shopping Buddy."

"Yay!" Jackie shouted happily in the parking lot, clapping her hands with joy and reminding Eric of earlier that day when this whole thing had started.

An abrupt thought entered his mind and Eric knew he had to throw it in, "But next time I want one of those giant chocolate chip cookies."

"Deal." She replied, setting off another deja vu moment for Eric.

"So when do you and Donna leave back to Madison?" Jackie asked, bring Eric back from his trip to the past.

"Um school starts on the eighteenth…" he said after wracking his brain some—the date that school started up again after a vacation break was never a date he ever circled on his calendar, "So probably the fourteen or fifteen, somewhere around there."

Jackie large smile became even larger, "That's so great! Because that means you can go to the End of the Year Sales with me!"

"End of the Year Sales?" Eric repeated though not at all in the same chipper tone Jackie used—not even close to it. Along with the missing happy tone his smile was nowhere to be found either; luckily an idea popped into his head, "I meant the twenty-sixth. Yeah, we're leaving the day _right after _Christmas. Gotta get ready for those classes! Darn school!"

Jackie was not at all fooled—of course the tone fake tone of voice Eric had used didn't help with his convincing—but she didn't argue or put up any kind of fight.

"Come on, let's go back to your house." She said already taking a few steps forward, "Steven should be there by now and Donna's probably on her way over."

Eric gave a simple nod, though inside he was doing a little celebration dance because they were finally leaving, "Yeah, okay."

Together Jackie and Eric continued their journey through the overfilled parking lot, neither speaking but both feeling comfortable and content. They had walked past half the row of parked cars and still had another half to go when Eric unexpectedly stopped in his tracks.

"Hey Jackie," he called out, right away getting her attention, "Can I ask you a question? It's kinda serious."

"Sure." Jackie answered, grinning.

"Um…do you remember where we parked?"

Jackie's grin immediately fell as she recognized that Eric was kidding and as she looked around the parking lot she realized she had no clue where they had parked the Vista Cruiser either. They shared a nervous look before letting their worried eyes scan over the billions of immobile vehicles in search of the old station wagon that they had come in.

**The End**

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><p><em><strong>Author's Note: <strong>And that is Chapter 6 and the last chapter of "Tis the Season to Go Shopping" Hope you liked!_

_So what did you guys think? Love it? Hate it? I hope the ending was okay, I liked it because I don't know about you guys but after spending so many hours in mall when I come out I always have the hardest time remembering where we parked—one time my friend and I walked over to the wrong car lol_

_Anywoo just wanted to say thank you guys so much for everything. For reading this story, for adding to your favorites, for adding to your alerts, for reviewing, for making this story even more fun for me to write._

_Specail big thanks, big hugs, and some giant chocolate chip cookies to Der Schatten, Eliza Ghost, Marla's Lost, MidniteRaine, Jeremy Shane, HwonDos, Ace5492, Kayjay, hellodaydreamer, SuperNeos2, and wingster55. You all are awesome!_

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, take care, and have a nice day!_


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